Hi Gordon
This Panasonic ZS10 / TZ20 sure has near identical specs to the SONY HX9V.
But the touch-screen and all the functions it comes with is a gorgeous add on.

The undocumented maxro zoom I discovered in the Sony HX5 is a feature the Panasonic TZ20 / ZS10 has implemented also
Macro Zoom
Including accessories and nail, close to you closer to small, attractive macro capture large. If the TZ20, you can zoom up to three times further from 近寄Reru limit, can be taken with great power.

Looks like Panasonic got inspired by Sony´s active mode video IS.

Movie recording while walking, so the camera is not stable, but prone big hand shake. TZ20, the evolution of image stabilization during movie shooting! "Active mode" to ON if to expand the operating range of the lens image stabilization. Without degrading image quality, shake it until it corrects occur when taking a big walk, you can watch a smooth and easy to film.

They also have now the multi shot like Sony´s HHT and a nice HDR mode.
I am just missing any panorama mode.

I have been having a love affair with my ZS7 for the past several months. Unfortunately (or perhaps, fortunately) we dropped it on a sidewalk in Grand Cayman and it suffered some damage. It still works, but is pretty busted up. It might be an opportunity to replace it with the ZS10.

I'm so glad to hear Panasonic decided to go with a MOS sensor on the ZS10. I absolutely love my ZS7 but my only disappointment has been the blue streaking in my videos when I get anywhere near light sources. Wow--16x zoom, a MOS sensor, full HD video and Panasonic's already fantastic stereo sound? I think the ZS10 could be the ultimate concert camera!

I am so looking forward to your review of the TZ20, looks like you are close to finishing it. We have a bumper crop of cameras in this category being released and I am looking to grab me one in the next month or two, panasonic and sony toping my short list at the moment.
Thanks for your great reviews, they will be of help when finally deciding on my first camera for 6 years.
Keep up the great work.

Gordon did you also do any ISO comparisons with the TZ20 images downsized to match the Canon at 10mp? At least in theory, I understand that with the same sensor (assuming the camera noise reduction processing is equal - you indicate it is better in the Canon) the higher MP version should have the same noise level as the lower MP version, when the MPs are reduced to that of the lower MP version. As I understand it, with the same sensor, the total light received (vs. the light to each well) is equal at the same aperture/shutter speed, regardless of the MPs of the sensor and it is the extra resolution that resolves more noise. Reduce the resoution and the added noise disappears.

Hi Frank, if only that were possible. Remember sensors have finite resolutions, marked out in a strict grid pattern. If you select a lower resolution, it doesn't magically make the pixels bigger and more sensitive. Instead the camera generally takes one of the following approaches:

1: It takes it at the full res anyway and downsamples in software.

2: It skips every few pixels to generate a lower res image.

3: It combines adjacent pixels to generate a lower res image with greater sensitivity - known as pixel-binning.

Option 3 is obviously the most desirable, but you'd need to significantly reduce the resolution to double-up pixels. Indeed to double-up, you'd have to halve the horizontal and vertical resolution. This is effectively what they do in their 'high sensitivity' modes, which for the TZ20 / ZS10 would be at 3.5 Megapixels.

So the best you can do is to take the 14 Mpixel original and downsample it in software to, say, 10 Mpixels. You're welcome to try that with my sample images, either using the crops from the High ISO noise page, or from the upcoming sample images page in the full review. But don't expect miracles.

Really looking forward to the full review, when is it likely to make an appearance?

Only reason I ask is I am off on holiday in a few months to malaysia and I am looking to get a travel zoom for the trip.

I have a Canon 30D and SX1 but they are both too big and bulky for the trip and I am not impressed by the average photos from the SX1. I also have a LX3 which I love but i think its zoom range will be too limiting for the trip.

My experience with the LX3 has made me consider the TZ10 and now TZ20 so please put me out of my misery and tell me the review is coming soon

I considered the GF1 and GF2 but I think for ease of travel i dont want to be carrying around lenses all day long.